This blog began in 2007, focusing on anthrax vaccine, and later expanded to other public health and political issues. The blog links to media reports, medical literature, official documents and other materials.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

The US, UK and France say a UN report confirming a chemical weapons attack in Damascus has vindicated their stance that Syria was to blame.

The US and UK ambassadors to the UN said technical details showed only the regime could have been responsible for the 21 August attack. Russia said claims that the rebels were responsible could not be shrugged off.

The report said sarin-filled rockets were fired. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called it a "despicable crime".'Jumped to conclusions'The UN report did not attribute blame for the attack, as that was not part of its remit.
Mr Ban was asked at a news conference whether he knew who was behind the attack.
He replied that "we may all have our own thoughts" but it was for "others to decide" what steps should be taken to bring those responsible to justice...

The report describes the team's methods. It estimates the direction the missiles came from and their range. It includes pictures of missile parts that are alleged to have been part of the munitions, and which did contain sarin. It was estimated that the missiles were able to contain up to 50 +/- 6 liters of liquid. Markings are seen on the missile parts, but they are not linked to any nation or parts manufacturer.

The US government continues to blame Assad for the attack on the basis that only the government, and not the rebels, could have such sophisticated weapons. Yet the CIA supplied Afghanistan's mujahideen with hundreds of Stinger surface to air missiles (SAMs) in the 1980s, to use against Soviet planes and helicopters. Yes, unsophisticated Afghanis used our sophisticated weaponry, acting as proxies against our enemy and theirs.

What is stopping some rebels from obtaining chemical weapons and missiles? Surely both can be purchased. Or transferred. Or supplied by a nation with sophisticated weapons that needs a proxy. In an interview on Flashpoint, Robert Parry provides reasons to think the Syrian rebels already have chemical weapons.

After swimming with dolphins at Key Largo, they checked me out at the edge of the pool

Visiting a Bhutanese Dzong, the regional seat of both government and religion (and a fort for good measure)

Why am I blogging?

Because life is meant to be lived! The left side of this blog has photos of some peak experiences. And the right side contains information about which I am passionate.

Too many peoples' lives are characterized by lack of authenticity, and fear of acknowledging and expressing their true nature. Employees cannot say what they think at work, and in the corporate system we must squish ourselves into square holes when we are round pegs. We thus lose touch with our souls, becoming cogs in a soulless, profit-driven machine.

The culture of political correctness has meant, in medicine, that we ignore how the foundations of our science are being undermined by commercialism. Clinical data generated or presented by the manufacturers of drugs, vaccines and devices cannot be trusted: there are hundreds of studies proving this. But this fraudulent information continues to be the only data informing the approval of vaccines, drugs and devices.

Unless scrupulous ethical conduct is demanded of physicians and biological scientists, our lack of meaningful standards will carry the medical-pharmaceutical system down the path of increasing irrelevance.

Medicine and its tools need to be affordable. The current medical-industrial milieu, characterized by contempt for science, countless ways for insiders to achieve wealth due to failure of good governance, and regulatory agency-to-industry revolving doors, has ushered in stratospheric pricing... further kicking us down that path to irrelevance.

Why is our new health care plan a giveaway to health industries instead of to health consumers? Why won't it cover all Americans? Why was the "public option" never an option for the Obama administration? Why did the promised Trump health plan evaporate the moment he was elected?

So many of our leaders carry a heavy burden of mendacity and avarice. If they instead got in touch with their own souls (perhaps by exposure to the natural world), or made their decisions by maximizing the amount of good that results, our leaders might find real meaning and value in their lives.

Until that happens, the only way to straighten out the current mess is to demand accountability and impose penalties on unethical/dishonest leaders. Both political parties enjoy bounteous hors d'oeuvres from Pharma's table, making it unlikely the existing political "process" will provide relief--as we've seen in the demoralizing healthcare reform drama.

Until then, I'll continue to "call it as I see it" in this blog -- working and living the way life should be, in rural Maine, far from the centers of power.

Ellen Byrne has created several designs encapsulating aspects of the FBI's ridiculous case against Bruce Ivins. They can be purchased on T-shirts and coffee mugs. All proceeds will be donated to the the Frederick County chapter of the American Red Cross, a favored charity of Dr. Bruce Ivins.